Kuredhivaru Resort & Spa Maldives — Hotel in South Miladhunmadulu

Movenpick Maldives is Paradise on Earth. Great architecture, qualty overwater villas, clear waters and good vibes all round. |Unforgettable Big Game Fishing experience with the Dive Butler crew. |We were extremely lucky and caught 2 Wahoos! |We also booked Scuba Diving and Reef Hopping excursions.|Customer service was good for most part with value-add concept of an island host. Our host was Mohammed.|What we liked: |Mohammed attended promptly to our inquiries and for matters he wasn't sure of, he would check and get back.|Our minibar fridge was not cold at all, we called housekeeping and they changed the entire mini fridge almost immediately after we reported the issue. We could then keep the bottled juices and enjoy them throughout the day.|Meals at the Movenpick restaurants never fail to amaze with their gastromic creations and treats.|Every staff on the island was courteous and polite and greeted us at every encounter.|What we didn't appreciate:|Some follow-ups from island host needed reminders, such as booking of activities and restaurant reservations. Some of those bookings and reservations didn't appear in the personalised Movenpick app either. But we brushed it off thinking it's just some technical glitch and is handled offline. All was well and smooth until our our meals. So we caught the 2 Wahoos and was asked if we where we would like to have it served for lunch. Having the fishing trip the 1st day after we arrived, we couldn't remember all the names of the restaurant and just loosely mention that we will have it at the main restaurant (Onu Mqrche). Little did we know that OM did not have lunch service so we went on to Latitude and was told there's only buffet available. We were not that hungry and didn't want buffet for lunch. In the end , the Wahoos were served to our room and we ordered room service. |We then told our island host to book Latitude for dinner that had an alarm carte menu for the night. We were told reservations were at 9pm which was too late for dinner by any standards, and so politely requested if we could have a 7pm reservation and was told Latitude was fully booked. Alittle disappointed , we asked if we could still order from the Latitude menu but served to the room. That was when miraculously, our host managed to get us a 7pm reservations. We had the salad, pasta, Tomahawk, Lobsters and Tiramisu for dinner and it was one of the best we've had. Shout out to the Caucasian-Chinese (from Kazakhstan I think, so sorry I forgot his name!) looking server who attended to us in the afternoon and in the evening. He looked quite young but was very professional and made sure all our needs were attended to. The next day we wanted to have dinner at Bodumas and informed our island host at breakfast when he came by as he did every morning before to check if everything was in order. He noted our 7pm dinner reservations and we assumed he would make the reservations on our behalf. Later that day, after reef hopping, we got ready and was first to arrive at Bodumas at 7pm for dinner. It was then that we were told that they didn't receive our reservations request and that they will double check. This was when I texted our island host to check as well, only to be told he made reservations at 9pm, and that he had forgotten to inform us. We had to find out from him at 7pm itself when we asked. After chatting and back and forth with the staff at Bodumas, a gentleman then came out and decided that he could accommodate us in the restaurant. Gihan then took the time to listen to our side of the story and also explained how the reservations work, and that they did not receive any reservations - not for 7pm nor 9pm, which only led us to conclude that our island host lied to us about the dinner reservations. Probably lied about the reservations the night before as well. We explained to Gihan (hope I got his name right) that it was our last day at the resort and we wanted to try out the different restaurants before we left. He got us a table inside the restaurant and generously served up complimentary drinks, food and desserts on top of what's we ordered, which made the whole experience a whole better. We want to thank Gihan for his professionalism and generosity, which made a huge difference in the way we ended our holidays.|On hindsight, I wished the island host was not so pushy promoting the daily themed events at the restaurants and the resort would provide ala carte options at every restaurant on top of the special curated events. We are easy going people who appreciate honesty and sincerity, if restaurant is full just be upfront with us rather than lie about it.|We had also asked if Kate (from the kids club) who went reef hopping with us if she could share the photos and videos she took. Our island host checked and informed that the marketing team would share the link by the end of the day. This was 2 days ago, to date, we have not received any link. |All in all, Movenpick is a wonderful resort that I would recommend to friends and family. Island hosts should receive more training in how to be better communicators in handling situations that may not be...

I was here for an anniversary celebration. There were a lot of hits; but there were misses too.

Things that I loved & would like to thank for: From pre-arrival till arrived: Very thankful to Rashif and Eemaan for attending to my multiple questions through, patiently assisting and arranging everything so nicely for me. Very personalised welcome at the airport with the 2 staffs who were working on 14 Feb, about 11am+ . We were very well taken care from landing-lounge -seaplane. We were taken care of throughout the arrival process into the seaplane, I loved it! It was amazing to arrive into the island with host being attached to us. Nelly was our host & we were given an introduction to the island before dropping off in our villa!

Room: Room was fabulous. Good size, very comfortable with stunning views. True to the pictures or should I say it’s even better!

Island: The island has amazing views from all different sides and I think it’s really fresh. I spent 4 days there, unlocking something new everyday I wished I knew earlier, but it definitely made me felt fulfilling because it’s feels like I’m in a different island everyday!

Buggy services: Quick & great service! Shout out to Layal & Wesley who are always making our short journey such a joy with many laughters.

Activities: I would just like to extend a very big thank you to Humaan, who brought us out for our excursion. He made us feel like we are the luckiest person ever that day. He shared a lot with us with his knowledge. His will & faith trying to ensure that we could see dolphins, really was everything. Humaan also made me felt very safe although it’s my first time out in the sea snorkeling. Thank you Humaan! Great Cocktail Party & Chocolate Hour!

Spa: Kadek was very patient when we were both just wow-ing at new marine lives’ view. She would stop and explain to us about what we are seeing. My partner was lucky to get service from her and according to him, her massage techniques were on point!

House reef area: Amazing snorkeling spot, everyone needs to head there! There is an awesome lifeguard there on duty! Shakila! Shakila! He was very observant about us. Checking on us whenever our heads popped out from the water. Remembering us when we returned from lunch for a second round. He also felt our uneasiness/fear being in the sea alone without anyone but ourselves, so he made sure to make us feel really safe while he was on watch.

Below are the misses:

Restaurants: Restaurants were limited. I think it should be informed before arrival in our booking or through external contacts that Bodumas & Latitude would require prior reservations of 1-2 days before. We reached on the day of our anniversary, only to find out that there will not be space in any of the restaurants except Onu Marche. I wanted dinner with ambience rather than buffet to celebrate but couldn’t get any reservations in. We ended up dining in room. Food and services in all restaurants were mediocre to us. Options could be more, didn’t really have anyone checking in on us, but many others were being talked to and checked in from time to time. Only at Onu Marche on our last night, we had Katrina checking in on us. Cheers to the pianist at Latitude as well!

Ending part of trip: I felt that a more personalised farewell should have been just like how we were welcomed. When departing, we felt rather unattended.

My major miss was during the last night of my stay. My period came way earlier than expected, late in the night. Called the reception to see if there was any way I could get/buy, only to received back a call back from reception lady for me to contact my host who was already off duty. Nothing was done for me the entire night & I had to keep waking up every 1-2 hours to ensure I don’t stain the bed until 9am the next day. I think the resort really can do better than this. Many major brands - restaurants or hotels would provide in their toilet or upon request. Moreover I was definitely willing to pay. But being thrown here and there with so much worries definitely...

The Kuredhivaru Maldives experience is a gentle and assured reminder that while white sand and blue waters can be found almost anywhere, a generous abundance of hotel service (courtesy of the amazing Mövenpick Resort staff) and human touch can make an over-the-top vacation truly remarkable.

The seaplane ride to the Kuredhivaru island, while scenic and beautiful as a first-time experience, can feel fatiguing after 24 hours of travel/transit. So getting to the island finally (we were the last of 3 dropoffs along the way) was very welcome. We were looking forward to finally relaxing and letting go of the weary travel (we had 2 young children with us). I don’t remember much in terms of the welcome – but I do remember our Mövenpick Resort host – Amy – who immediately recognized that we were exhausted with our two kids, and suggested she drive us via one of their golf carts to our villa, and that we delay all the check-in processing until we had a chance to rest and recoup. I can’t tell you how grateful we were to have a host who was able to read our situation with such sincerity and desire to accommodate.

The villas are amazing – glass floor so you can see the water below, comfortable beds, an infinity pool and direct access to the lagoon. We saw sea turtles, stingrays, reef sharks, a myriad of tropical fish… literally from our villa deck. We spent the days at Mövenpick in the villa pool, then in the lagoon water, and then back in the villa pool, with breaks to basically eat and relax inside with the A/C.

Amy was amazing – right off the bat, she made reservations for us at the restaurants, ensured we were scheduled for COVID testing early on so we didn’t need to worry about it at the latter end of our trip, came up with recommendations and suggestions and always followed-up. My wife’s birthday fell in the middle of our trip, and even without any prompting or ask from me, she had the restaurant notified to prepare a cake for her and our room set up with cake and other birthday decorations while we were at that restaurant for dinner. And then when our kids fell asleep at the restaurant, forcing us to leave early before the cake could come out, she drove us to our villa, and then went back (unsolicited!) to get the cake from the restaurant with candles. AMAZING service; I can’t say enough good things about Amy.

The food on the island isn’t bad, but it is pricey relative to the quality and options. The best restaurant, Bodumas, is definitely worth the cost. Their wagyu and general menu selection necessitates at least 2 or 3 dinners. But the other options – buffet restaurant and poolside restaurant – aren’t really great in terms of bang for the buck. I would still recommend the buffet restaurant over the poolside restaurant for selection alone. We also had the bed & breakfast option where breakfast at the buffet was included, and admittedly, that was one of my favorite meals since the selection from hot foods to cold foods to pastries is varied and worthwhile. There is a tremendous offering for kids too – from Nutella pancakes to chocolate muffins.

The beach is white, beautiful and pristine. They have staff early in the mornings raking the sand so that it’s all uniform and clean. At night, hundreds (thousands) of crabs come out and are enchanting to watch. Just walking along the beach during the afternoon was peaceful and serene. But my favorite times were early in the morning, as we got up to watch the sunrise over the lagoon every morning while we were there. A strange sense of peace and calm sets over you, and provides some necessary perspective (in my case) to the turbulence and hustle of life that we came to the Maldives to get away from.

Everything else about the experience was extraordinary due to the gracious, humble and friendly nature of the Mövenpick Resort staff. All in all – it was a fantastic week in the Maldives. I recommend you check out Mövenpick Resort – it’s worth your...